MyBB can offer all of that and more. If you would like, I can create a list of everything you guys would need to do to change. That would include plugins(calendar/events, market, pictures, etc) plus a way to migrate all the current threads/sections.

Other things
For the airsoft teams link, you can easily create new pages with MyBB and add new teams there. This also goes for any other page/link you would need. Everything can be easily added and adjusted. Themes are very easy to make and many free ones are available. I could even make you guys one.

I don't think it would be easy or overnight, but I am hopeful that it can be revived. However, forcing everything to be done on the AO forum will not be enough and may create push back if done to rapidly. If things come back here, we have to make it worth while for people to stay.

One of the biggest complaints I recall hearing from newbies was how harsh it could be sometimes with asking repeat questions, spelling and grammar and the like. I'm not saying we should not have standards, but one of the appeals of FB for a lot of newcomers was that they could just go, ask their quick questions and get responses. I remember people being "scared off" from the forums.

To wrap this up, I don't see the FB page going away but I think the forum has strengths that FB will never have.

Hello!
It has been a long while since I have logged in and even longer since I have ever posted anything. I thought I would finally return and see if this site was still going. After browsing for new posts I decided to read through this thread and give my 2 cents.
AO is pretty much what got me into Airsoft and this was my main source of information besides Youtube at the time and it is really sad to see that this site has lost as much activity as it has. I would love to see this community and forum make a come back. I agree with what a lot has been said, the main thing I believe is important is Event posting and more community oriented stuff. I know that when I first started out that finding events and fields was so easy using this forum. When places stopped posting events and started resorting to Facebook, I found it so difficult to find new fields and events going on near me, but that may be most because I don't care for social media. I'm not even much for using forums to be honest.
I am glad that you are looking at other options for hosting to possibly have a newer, more up to date site. I personally love the lay out as it is but it can feel dated and clunky at times compared to other platforms.
I think there has been some great advice given and I can't really add anything more to what has been said. I just wanted to basically say that the ideas given have been great so far and would really love to see this community come back and grow again.

Sadly Iltheran, looks like AO is not warm it up for now. This thread is the only "new post" and doesn't look like any other members (old or new) are actively getting involved, not even to talk about HPA new technology. Furthermore, it doesn't look like the owner of the site wants to invest in it. Why? I don't know.

So for now, we need to live with what we got, hoping it will be enough to generate interest or we will keep this site on life support and give up not long after. Heck, I feel more like the janitor than a moderator nowaday

Interesting to see this many active guests on the site yet no members. Seems to me that people are coming to the site but not registering and therefore not really “building” back up a community. Maybe part of the problem?

Interesting to see this many active guests on the site yet no members. Seems to me that people are coming to the site but not registering and therefore not really “building” back up a community. Maybe part of the problem?

Interesting to see this many active guests on the site yet no members. Seems to me that people are coming to the site but not registering and therefore not really “building” back up a community. Maybe part of the problem?

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. Blade, please correct me if I'm wrong, or inform me otherwise, but hasn't airsoft in Ohio become much, MUCH smaller in the last five or so years? My team all split up because two guys got severely hurt and the rest of us, well, life caught up. There's no community anymore because the people I once knew who played every weekend, no longer play. I used to live and breathe airsoft. I bled BBs. But yet now, years later since my last game, I don't find myself missing it all that much. Sure, when I talk about past experiences I get really excited and want to grab my MP5 and go at it again. But in the end, there's no one I know anymore to play with.

I also think it was more than just the change to Facebook that may have killed it for a lot of members. Many of the games, at least the last few my team attended, had problems. Lots of "hurry up and wait," standing around in formation for HOURS waiting for the start, only to break for lunch three hours later, then calling it quits at 5PM. Politics, poor sportsmanship, THEFT, etc. made my guys want to get out of it. So maybe it's just not the community, but also the actual games that made airsoft just flutter away.

I think some problems also stemmed from when that one guy, I think his call-sign was Baked Potato or something, brought a real gun that got stolen and the community raised money for him to buy a new one.

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. Blade, please correct me if I'm wrong, or inform me otherwise, but hasn't airsoft in Ohio become much, MUCH smaller in the last five or so years? My team all split up because two guys got severely hurt and the rest of us, well, life caught up. There's no community anymore because the people I once knew who played every weekend, no longer play. I used to live and breathe airsoft. I bled BBs. But yet now, years later since my last game, I don't find myself missing it all that much. Sure, when I talk about past experiences I get really excited and want to grab my MP5 and go at it again. But in the end, there's no one I know anymore to play with.

I also think it was more than just the change to Facebook that may have killed it for a lot of members. Many of the games, at least the last few my team attended, had problems. Lots of "hurry up and wait," standing around in formation for HOURS waiting for the start, only to break for lunch three hours later, then calling it quits at 5PM. Politics, poor sportsmanship, THEFT, etc. made my guys want to get out of it. So maybe it's just not the community, but also the actual games that made airsoft just flutter away.

Indeed, the community is much smaller than it used to. The thing is, airsoft is like any other hobbies and sports. If you don't get involved, you lose interest. On top of that, if you have more than one sport/hobby, you spend less time to it, which will ultimately make you not miss it when you leave the sport. Unfortunately, getting too much involved can create the opposite effect: you get sick and tired of the drama, waking up early morning, cleaning up afterward, etc.

That said, the community changed, there is no doubt about it. we are not obsessed with gear whoring anymore. We rather obsessed about kill count
The player's life expectancy in the sport is less than 18 months on average from the time they get introduced to the time they quit coming.

If I recall correctly, didn't Wallace of Zshot offer to help fund the forum and and update to the software? If so, now would be a good time to call that in.

Offer is still out! I will pay for the new software license, that's not a problem. We've been paying for hosting already so why not make it better.

The most costly (complicated?) part is migrating to the new platform and retain whatever necessary functions that Locutus baked into the current AO. We also need to decide if it is feasible to retain / transfer the wealth of information within the current forum. I believe these information, dating back over a decade, is very valuable to the community and if at all possible I would like to maintain those.

So the question is... do we have a software guru that is willing to volunteer some personal time and migrate us to a new platform?

Y'all know me. Know how I earn a livin'. I'll run this site for you, but it ain't gonna be easy. Bad website. Not like going down the pond chasin' Kong and Loki. This site'll swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your posters, put all your airsoft businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than few dozen bucks, chief. I'll fix it for three, but I'll run it, and kill it, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want AO to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this site. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the Off Topic Forums, the Classifieds, the whole damn thing...

__________________...The universe is a big place. We can't be alone on this tiny blue planet - its own solar system surrounded by billions of solar systems, in a galaxy surrounded by a billion galaxies, infinite combinations of matter and energy with infinite possibilities, and they picked Ben Affleck to play Batman...

What do you guys think about a more social network style of website? I've played around with a package called Oxwall before, it seems like it might be a good fit to replace a forum. I believe there is even an app for it.

I'm certainly not opposed to forums by any means, but Airsoft Ohio is basically the only forum I ever log into. Forums just don't seem as popular these days.

What do you guys think about a more social network style of website? I've played around with a package called Oxwall before, it seems like it might be a good fit to replace a forum. I believe there is even an app for it.

I'm certainly not opposed to forums by any means, but Airsoft Ohio is basically the only forum I ever log into. Forums just don't seem as popular these days.

IMHO, I think the MOST important function to have is a calendar of events that is functional a little bit better than before. Yes, the forum and info parts are important, but AO is primarily on FB now, and it is very darn difficult, if not impossible at times, to find an event that you may have seen a few days prior. Having an event calendar in one place that is searchable by date or even by event type, would do WONDERS for the community!! I played a lot more when I could look and see what events I could do on my day off, where it was, and read a posted set of rules for said game. I could RSVP on the side of my choice and see who was playing on what side.(in case I wanted to run with a particular group or persons) FB just does NOT cut it in comparison to a forum system. when you look at a specific topic or thread, you can read the responses and respond, and it will be in the same place each visit! No spending hours looking for something that you just saw the other day! PLUS, you can BST you gear AND guns on a forum, something the FB Nazi's don't allow now! Ugh, there is soooo many ways the forum outshines FB for getting things back on track!

__________________
"In the game of airsoft, if you aren't having fun, then you are doing it wrong!"
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"The herd likes to see the cowboy up on the horse, even if he is asleep in the saddle. It makes them feel better." --Me
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" Just to quell the rumors..I did NOT bury my wife under the house so I could come back out and play...........She's under the shed. J/k" --also Me.

The site should be allowed the dignity to move onto Vahalla. Archive the Forums and make it accessible.

Shutdown and strip down the site to basic Event Hosting and Coordination, and move the Community firmly to Social Media Platform like Facebook, where it is flourishing.

Do this quickly before the next security flaw in existing software is discovered and enables a hacker to deface and further destroy the fountain of knowledge still living here.

Do this before the next server failure results in loss of data.

Give the Community the final dignity it deserves by allowing it evolve or die on its own terms.

AirsoftOhio deserves that much.

That is my true opinion. And Wot am teh besets website fate-zorz!!!

__________________...The universe is a big place. We can't be alone on this tiny blue planet - its own solar system surrounded by billions of solar systems, in a galaxy surrounded by a billion galaxies, infinite combinations of matter and energy with infinite possibilities, and they picked Ben Affleck to play Batman...